Fallout Equestria, Eyes of the Wolf
by ChaosFangX
Summary: Artemis was a full grown man when the bombs fell. He and his sister seemed to be the only survivors in all of Equestria. Now, everything has changed. Rated M for lemons hidden inside, violence, murder, drugs... you guys get the idea. OC/OPOC (other persons OC). Full Summary inside.
1. Chapter 1: Rumors Again?

**Here's my take on the ever so popular Fallout Equestria over on FIMFiction. I hope I can do justice to Kkat's characters and not make them seem too different. Um... as you all will know if you've been on my profile page anytime soon, I need at LEAST two reviews within three months before I'll continue this story. Any less than two and I'll delete it as a failed project.**

**As everyone knows, I am currently writing an MLP fanfiction with a character named Knight Shadow. Anyone that has read the latest chapter will know that he and Twilight have recently had a child named Artemis. Well, in more recent news, I have just purchased Fallout 3. I know, I know, old game but here's the deal. I had never played it until now. I never even liked the Fallout games because of all the Hype about them, but much like with MLP, I eventually gave in to the hype and bought Fallout New Vegas, Game of the Year edition and... I'm hooked. I now have Fallout 3 Game of the Year edition and I just finished playing through what I believe to be the first official mission, getting to GNR. Well, as Washington DC never existed in Equestria, I'll be using Fallout Equestria, the original story by Kkat, to get all of my places, save for one. ANYWAY, this story will be going through Artemis' point of view as... well, the war did claim his parents lives. **

**Huh? A summary? Oh, right, sorry. Um... yeah.**

_**Artemis was a full grown man when the bombs fell. He and his sisters, Melody, Radiance, and Nyx were the only survivors of the fallout from the Megaspells that vaporized the landscape, safe behind the walls of their home in Ponyville. It had been almost 150 years, and due to his Alicorn blood, he and his family were, seemingly, unaffected by the radiation. It had been twenty years since he'd seen his sister Radiance, and another ten longer than that since Nyx had disappeared. Together with his sister Melody, he's heard rumors of a place free of radiation where they could make a new home. But, unknown to his sister, he's heard rumors of a wolf warrior clad in jet black armor cutting swaths through Raiders, Slavers and the like. Could his father have survived the Pink Mist now tainting Canterlot? Or is this wolf just a remnant of his father's Clan, trying to spread the rumors of the Hero of Equestria still alive? Rated M for lemons, violence, murder, drugs, and war. OC/OPOC/OPOC (Other Persons OC), OC/OPOC. Hope you all enjoy this.**_

* * *

><p><span><strong>Chapter 1: Rumors again?<strong>

My name is Artemis Shadow. Well, Artemis Sparkle, really, as I am the son of the Mare of the Ministry of Arcane Sciences, Twilight Sparkle. Sad to say, I'm not proud of my mother's involvement with the Ministry and how it caused her disappearance. It's also the cause of my sister Radiance leaving Melody and myself alone. Sure, back in the day Radiance was basically considered mom's bastard daughter, begotten through rape, but at the same time, she was still my sister. As for my other sister, Nyx... she'd disappeared ten years before Radiance left, with not a word to anyone. Just up and left in the dead of night. Melody woke up the next morning in a panic, screaming about Nyx having been kidnapped. I hadn't believed her of course... considering kidnappers wouldn't take her stuff too, and Nyx was an Alicorn and the daughter of one of the most powerful warriors of Wolf Legends, Shadow Heart the Blade. Anyway, this isn't exactly the time to tell you my entire life story, but suffice it to say, it only took us a minute to put two and two together and realize Nyx had left us. She wasn't coming back any time soon, and to make maters worse, it was only... wait. I already told you Radiance left ten years after Nyx. If you weren't paying attention, that's not my fault.

At the moment of the beginning of this story, I was working in the local saloon in New Appleoosa, cleaning things up when the radio on my Pipbuck kicked in, tuned in to DJ Pon3's station. First off, the reason I wear a Pipbuck is because my mother designed it and it makes keeping things organized a lot easier, which is tough for me. Thinking it was gonna be just another rumor about the Wolf Warrior, I decided to ignore it, until I heard something about a Stable. "That's right, Wastelanders, a little Stable Dweller from Stable 2 has just liberated Ponyville from Raiders. You heard me right. Fresh out of a stable and already this would be hero has liberated one of Ponyville's most powerful centers of Friendship. Keep on listenin' to the broadcasts comin' from your radios Wastelanders, cause I don't think this is the last we've heard of our Stable Dweller. This is DJ Pon3, signing out." the musician said and I looked up at my manager, who just happened to be my sister. She'd heard the broadcast her on own Pipbuck. Ponyville was our home, and the center of power for the Kingdom of Friendship. The castle that still stood in Ponyville just so happened to be the very home we'd left when the Raiders came knocking. Wiping sweat off of my brow, I finished my work and walked over to my sister.

"Do you think this Stable Dweller will be on his way here?" one of the other employees asked. My sister shook her head and shrugged. Famous for being a singer, the people of New Appleoosa wondered why she'd chosen to work in this humble little bar. She was a beautiful girl, with flowing black hair and smoldering amber eyes she'd inherited from our dad. Her skin was flawless, the wings on her back tucked in tight and the bracelet on her wrist sparking with magic as she cleaned the entire counter herself while some of her magically summoned creatures that we had both inherited from Dad helped out in the back. Adorning her body, keeping her warm even in the cold building, was a long sleeved t-shirt that showed just a little cleavage, keeping herself modest while still exuding an air of sex appeal, and a pair of black slacks tucked over a pair of well cared for boots that our favorite "other mother" Rarity had given her. To explain how she's our Other Mother, before the war, Dad was married to not just our mom, Twilight Sparkle, but also to Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack, though Applejack and the rest were under an agreement with him that mom was, in a way "Alpha Mom". Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were all free to fall in love, date, and marry others and leave their marriage with dad. Only Applejack had taken him up on that offer, falling in love with a young colt who quickly became her right hand man. As conversation went on around us, one of my sister's songs came on over the radio and the two of us shared a look that said all we needed to say. It was time to go home, back to our castle, to find the things we'd left behind. We needed to return to Ponyville.

Once we'd gotten everything situated and everyone at the saloon knew their tasks for their time there, it only took us a couple hours to inform Railright that we were leaving. He seemed upset about that, but agreed that we'd helped them as best as we could. The saloon would do well without us, and he'd find new managers for it. "Shame ta see ya go kids. Ya'll were quite helpful gettin' our little town up and runnin'. Ah'm still surprised ya'll survived the bombs the way ya say ya did, but that don't matter none. Ya'll helped us, and fer that, we'll all be grateful to ya, ferever." Melody smiled and gave the old man a hug before pulling away and stepping back next to me.

"Thank you, Railright. We would have been lost without you more than likely. Wandering the way we were before you found us in the wastes, it was only a matter of time before we came across Radigators or something worse." She said and he nodded and tipped his hat to us. She smiled again and the two of us turned and left, my sword smacking against the door as it swung closed. On our way out, we spotted the local Caravan defender Calamity flying into town, the caravan that had just left right below him. As they passed, I stopped, my nose catching an unfamiliar scent interspersed with the metallic scent of blood. Looking in the back of the caravan I saw a young girl, no older than my sister had been when the Ministries were formed, laying in the back of the caravan, bleeding from a gunshot wound in her gut.

"Melody." I said and turned to look at her but she was already jumping into the back of the caravan to help, her wings moving sort of like a cloak on her back as she dropped down next to the girl. I sighed a little then followed her lead and jumped in the back. As soon as the caravan stopped, I used my own magic to lift her up, keeping pressure on her wound and sped her into the clinic. "Candi! We've got an emergency here!" I shouted and the medic came in to help get her back to health. Laying her on one of the tables, I stepped back as Candi went to work. Stepping towards the door, I saw that Melody had yet to leave the girl's side. A sigh escaped me as I sank into a chair near the door, watching them for a while before I started to drift off to sleep.

"I don't think that's a good idea." I heard my sister saying almost three hours later. She sounded like she was sitting on the table we'd left the girl on, speaking towards me. As I opened my eyes, I saw the girl standing right in front of me. Sitting straight up, I found myself looking at the palm of her hand, which had previously been reaching for one of my ears. She smiled sheepishly at me as she stepped back, grabbing her arm across her stomach before she realized that she was naked from the waist up and her tiny, mosquito bite breasts were staring me in the face. Blushing furiously, she covered herself with her hands, which gave me a better view of her bandaging. Candi had done a good job, as usual, and bandaged the girls stomach, stitched it closed, and replaced the old bandages with new ones which only had a light smattering of blood.

"Good. You're better. Can we leave now Melody?" I asked my sister as I stood up and the girl looked at me then at my sister then back at me. Melody sighed as she hopped off of the table and walked over, stopping as Candi and the doctor walked in.

"Ah, you're up then. Good. Now, we'd like to ask some questions..."

About four hours later, after we'd learned everything Little Pip knew, my sister, Calamity, Little Pip and myself were heading into Stable Twenty-four doing a favor for Crane, the crane operator. Some little monsters had been skittering out of it and attacking travelers heading into New Appleoosa and he'd asked us to take care of it. Technically, he'd asked Little Pip to take care of it and Calamity had decided to tag along with her. I would have been half way back to Ponyville myself if my Sister hadn't spoken up before they'd left, offering our services. When Calamity asked what saloon workers could do to help clear a stable of little monsters that could poison with a bite, my sister had pulled the headband hiding her forehead jewel, marking her as an Alicorn, off and levitated the entire crane, Crane sitting in the operators seat. She'd set it back down where it had been, but all the same she'd impressed Calamity and Little Pip. She'd also pulled out the pistol that mom had made for her before the bombs had started to fall and shot a group of rats that were gnawing on the bones of a dead caravaneer from a while back. I sighed as Little Pip agreed to let Melody follow them and I offered my own services, saying only that they'd be stupid to tell a born warrior no. Walking up to the stable door, we saw that it was partially open, just enough space that we could squeeze inside.

"So, what're we here for?" I asked as we walked down the halls, Melody holding her pistol, myself with my shotgun, and Calamity with his two rifles strapped to his sides, the trigger bit near enough to his mouth that he could keep his hands free for other stuff. Little Pip had the pistol she'd found in Ponyville, one that I'd very nearly taken from her when I recognized it as Applejack's pistol, Little Macintosh. She recognized the set up of the stable, as it was very similar to her own. As we came to the maintenance wing, she walked into the pipbuck maintenance hall and looked around. I noticed that one of the openings to the vents was open, but paid it no mind as she hacked into the terminal. My own pipbuck, and my E.F.S, Eyes-Forward Sparkle, were active, showing that we weren't alone in the stable. Every so often, I'd spot a little red dot that seemed to be right next to us, and I'm sure the others noticed it as well through their own pip bucks, except for Calamity who didn't have one.

"We're here to seal the entrance to the Stable so the creatures that have been escaping from it can't get back in to breed." Pip said and I shook my head. I knew they could have sealed the Stable entrance from the outside by blowing it up and burying it under half a ton of rock. What I wasn't sure of was why they were inside the Stable. I understood that she was from a Stable, but it wasn't this one. She'd come out of Stable 2, the big yellow "2" on the back of her outfit making that clear, but it didn't explain why she'd wanted all of us to come into the Stable we were supposed to close.

"Pip, if we're here to seal the Stable entrance, shouldn't we be, you know, outside? So we don't get sealed in here with whatever creatures have been scuttling out?" I asked and she sighed and rounded on me, Little Macintosh following her eyes thanks to her magic and leveling between my eyes.

"I want to find out what kinds of creatures we'd be locking in here even if you don't. Maybe they're friendly and just want to be left alone. I want to know if they're dangerous." She said and I tapped Little Macintosh with my shot gun, moving the barrel away from my face. She blinked at me then put Little Mac away. I put my shotgun in its holster on my back as the others put their own guns away, Calamity's folding up under his wings carefully so he could still fly. Melody holstered her pistol and the four of us walked through the Stable, a little red dot appearing every so often on my E.F.S.

"Hey Little Pip, I don't know about you, but every so often, I see a red dot on my E.F.S. It pops up then disappears a second later." I said and she turned around and blinked. She'd seen it too but hadn't mentioned it.

"I don't like it, but so far, whatever is either hasn't attacked us or is too afraid to attack such a large group. I hate to say it, but maybe we should split up. You two should check the police station and see if there's any useful information there about what was going on before this stable shut down. Calamity and I are gonna check the maintenance hall a bit more." She said and Melody nodded, redrawing her pistol as she took the lead, heading towards the police station towards the back of the stable. I followed my sister, E.F.S still active in case the red dot followed us. I watched until it disappeared from sight then turned my attention to my sister. As we got closer and closer to the police station, the stable got darker and darker.

"Artemis, I don't like this... it's too dark..." She said, moving slower until I was standing right next to her. Even as a filly, Melody had been terrified of the dark, mostly because of our God Father, Discord. Only reason he was our God Father is because he'd designated himself as such the minute mom had given birth to Melody so Mom had been too tired to argue with him. I took her hand gently and slipped my shotgun from its holster using my own magic. Being half Alicorn granted me unicorn magic, so it was easy enough to do. It was weaker when Melody and I weren't touching, but the second we touched, both of our magical ability flared.

"Don't worry sis. I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere. I promise." I said as we finally reached the police station. Our side of the door was covered in scratches and scrapes, apparently from the fingers of the ponies trying to get inside. Scattered around the floor were the skeletons of those very ponies, as well as skeletons from other things, smaller, and grotesque from the looks of their skeletal structures. I felt Melody shudder as we stepped over a skeleton and towards the door. Using my shotgun I nudged the body of one skeleton away from the door so I could get at the handle. Pulling it open, I was thankful for the magical barrier the gauntlet I'd inherited from Dad granted as a shotgun booby trapped to the door blasted a hole in the shield spell I'd gotten up moments before it went off. Melody screamed, obviously from the sudden blast, but knowing that shotgun only had the one shot, I was willing to step inside and knock it away from the door. As soon as it was moved, Melody walked into the police station and looked around. No skeletons either meant the police officers were some of the skeletons outside or they'd escaped to meet their fates elsewhere.

"I'll check the terminal, you see if you can get the lights working." Melody said as she walked over to the terminal and sat in the chair behind the desk. I nodded, barely hearing what she said, as I finally noticed something else in the room with us. Flashing my pipbuck's light at it, I jumped back and very nearly put a slug in the torso of a mummified corpse. Looking around the room, I realized why there were no skeletons. Every police officer in the station had been mummified and stuck to the wall. Looking near the feet of them, I noticed several tiny eggs, some of which hadn't hatched yet. Drawing my sword with my magic, I crushed every single one of the ones that hadn't hatched, making sure they wouldn't hatch, and went to work finding the lights. After scouring the room, I deigned to check behind the mummies and sure enough, behind the mummy I'd almost shot was a breaker box, the switch for the lights busted.

"Good news and bad news sis. No lights. Breaker box switch is busted. And that's the good news. The bad news is, there are no skeletons in here because all the police officers that were locked in here are now mummies." I said as I swung my light around and illuminated the mummified corpse of the apparent Chief of Police.

"Personally, Artemis, I think the mummies would be good news. You know I hate the dark..." She said as I walked over. Nodding, I leaned down and kissed her head. The terminal worked fine, giving our side of the room an eerie green glow. Looking at the screen, I skimmed through what she'd been reading before she flipped to the next one. They were all logs. Hacking into the terminal myself, I downloaded them all to my pipbuck for later use. "Well, didn't find anything of use here. Just logs stating the obvious... Stable in danger, Stable over run by monsters, things like that." She said as she stood up and flipped the terminal around. As soon as it was shining on the other side of the room, I drew my sword again and stepped between my sister and the thing clinging to the wall. It looked like a cat, but had six spindly, bony legs like a bug, a stinger like a scorpion, and fangs like a snake. The best term for it was Chimera. The thing hissed at us before starting to skitter towards us, lightning fast. Unfortunately for the creature, my sister's fear was faster. Twelve shots rang out in quick succession right next to my head, sending my ears ringing, as she unloaded her twin pistols into it, pasting its head and tail and basically cutting it in half.

"And... now we know what killed everyone in this Stable. Let's go tell Pip." I said and the two of us bolted down the hallway, our eyes and ears open and weapons aiming behind, ahead, and to the sides in case there were more Chimeras.

We reached Pip and Calamity a few minutes later, the two of them holed up in the infirmary, Calamity burning up from a bite he'd received from a Chimera. "I don't know what to do... I read on a log that those things are deadly in small numbers, and he's already burning up from just a little bite... what am I supposed to do..." Pip whimpered as we walked into the room and slammed the door shut on the head of another Chimera.

"Pip, calm down. This is the infirmary. It shouldn't be too hard to find some medicine for this." I said and she looked at me.

"That's just it Artemis. The logs say that there's only a few vials of the cure left and they're all in the Overmare's office. That's in the atrium and from what we saw as we ran here, it's over run by those things." She said and I looked at her. The moment she took charge and calmed down, she got really serious and, from my point of view, really cute.

"Don't risk yer life fer me Lil'pip. Git yerself outa here fast and seal th' stable. Ah'm already lost. No point n' us both dyin' here..." Calamity said and she turned to him and shook her head.

"No way. According to Candi, you nearly killed me. I'm not letting you leave my side till I've gotten every drop of blood you spilled from me repaid." She said and I smirked. I'd have said the same thing if he'd told me to leave him to die.

"Ain't no way Ah'm lettin' you walk through that atrium and git yerself killed just to fetch me an antidote that might or might not even be there. You'd be seen and those things'd tear ya apart." Just as he said that, Pip pulled a Stealth buck out of her bag.

"Not if I use this they won't." She said and the three of us stared at her for a minute before nodding our consent.

Not thirty minutes had passed before we were on our way out of the Stable, Calamity well on his way to recovery after downing the second to last vial of antidote. We'd kept the other one to give to New Appleoosa so they could replicate it. "Artemis, as soon as we're clear of the door, I want you and Melody to blow the mountain on top of it to kingdom come. Seal these things in here for good." Pip said as we walked out of the stable, Calamity leaning on me for support in case his leg gave out on him. When we were well enough out of the way, I passed Calamity to Pip and turned around to see three or four Chimeras, big ones, scuttling out of the Stable. Grinning, I raised my golden arm and let a burst of its magic slam into the mountain side. The initial thud of magic hitting the stone was intense, strong enough to push them backwards a couple inches. The Chimeras stopped in their tracks and looked up, shrieking as tons of stone and rock tumbled down on top of them. We stepped back again as one particularly large rock slammed into the ground near my foot. Turning around, I saw Pip and Calamity staring at my golden arm.

"What? This thing is basically made of magic, you think it's any big deal for it to bring down a mountain?" I asked and Melody shook her head. "What? Oh come on... ya know what, let's just get back to New Appleoosa..." I said as I started walking back to town.

_Perk Discovered: **Magic Touch. **When Siblings of close enough or the same blood touch physically, their latent abilities are nearly tripled in power. _

_Perk Added: **Big Boom. **Specific to the Realm Gauntlet, you can now let lose a burst of pure magical energy that can topple mountains and clear the skies. Useful eh?_

* * *

><p><strong>And there you have it. Chapter one of my Fallout Equestria story. I hope ya'll like it, cause believe me, it was a pain in the ass to write. If you find any typos, let me know in the reviews and about where you found it and I'll see if I can fix it before I upload the next chapter. Anyway, uh... yeah. Let me know in the review about Typos and... quick question for everyone that reads this. Should the group, including Little Pip, Calamity, Artemis, and Melody, find one of Artemis and Melody's sisters next chapter? Or, should the "Wolf Warrior" stumble across them in the next town they visit and offer to help them "Just this once"? I'm just curious what you guys think. If you chose the first one, which sister, Nyx or Radiance? If the second, should his identity be revealed and should it be Artemis and Melody's dad Knight, or just some random wolf that found Knight's armor or was wearing armor similar to what Knight would wear? R&amp;R and I'll get the next chapter Uploaded soon enough. I hope.<strong>


	2. Chapter 2: Two Reunions

**And here's chapter 2. Just remembered that I'll be doing this from Artemis' point of view, so I'm just gonna do this the way I should have. Different point of view than Little Pip's, the story will be just a little different. And, as none of the towns in the video games exist either, save for maybe one or two of them, I'll be taking a few of them to use, but changing them up just a little bit. You know, to suit my needs for them. As I didn't get any votes, we'll be going with my idea. They find one of Artemis and Melody's sisters in this town. Also, we're changing up the original story a little, since this is an alternate dimension after all, and we're getting another member of Lil'pip's group. So, here we go. **

* * *

><p><span><strong>Chapter 2: Two Reunions.<strong>

Lil' Pip and I walked at the head of our little group, Calamity and Melody talking animatedly behind us. I wasn't quite sure what they had to be so excited about, after all Melody and I had just been permanently evicted from a place we loved by people we thought loved us. As you can imagine, I was being the stoic, pissed off, silent guy of the group while Calamity and my sister seemed to hit it off like a pair of love birds. At the moment, we were heading to the town of Megaton, renamed after it was destroyed by a Megaspell slamming into it but not detonating. Little Pip was curious to see what the Megaspells looked like. The best way for her to see one would be Megaton, and something other than that was drawing me to the town. I was completely unsure of whether or not that bomb might accidentally go off, however I wanted to give her the chance to see one and meet the people of Megaton. They were nice people, for the most part, if a little strange. "So... why are we going to Megaton again?" Calamity asked Melody for the fourth time during their conversation.

"Pip wants to see an unexploded Megaspell and that's the only place nearby that has one. We'll probably be safe... maybe..." She said and I sighed just a little. Pip looked at me for a moment before the two of us shook our heads and we walked onto the public street. I stopped a moment and put my arm out in front of Pip, looking up and down the road.

"Pip... draw Little Macintosh and keep it ready. The road to Megaton is swarmed with mutated creatures. Mostly mutated Sergals, things the locals have started calling Dark Claws. They're... definitely not something we should run into." I said and she nodded and pulled out Little Macintosh. Scanning the road as we walked, I could see the dome of Megaton not to far up ahead of us, but I could also see a pack of Dark Claws wandering along the road. They were far enough ahead that they wouldn't notice us easily, but if anything were to go wrong to draw their attention we'd be in trouble. "Freeze." I said under my breath and all four of us stopped moving. Calamity looked ahead and, naturally, his sharp eyes homed in on the Dark Claws directly ahead of us. Now, you're probably wondering about this time why his name was Calamity. Well... with a hoot and a holler, he lived up to his name as he flipped his two high powered rifles over his shoulders, gripped the triggers in his teeth, and took off into the air. I winced as I heard the Dark Claws roar, thankful only for the fact that there were no buildings they could jump from to get to him. What made my happiness die out was that the second roar was aimed directly at Little Pip, Melody, and myself as all five Dark Claws rushed at us. Calamity wheeled in the air and managed to cripple one with his rifles, taking off it's leg, but that still left four of them rushing at us, and my Realm Gauntlet was still recharging it's magical energy from the Big Boom I'd used to collapse the cave on top of the Chimeras.

The fact that even my Shotgun wasn't strong enough to kill these things in one shot had me itching to take off and ditch the non flying unicorn, whom my sister and I had saved in New Appleoosa, to save my own hide. My loyalty to my friends, however, kept me rooted in place as one of them reached me. Thinking quickly, I shoved my whole arm down it's throat, did my best to aim my shotgun towards it's heart and away from me, and pulled the trigger. The resulting boom had the things jaw clamping down on the gauntlet, thankfully shattering all of it's teeth, but it also put a gaping hole in its chest and scrapped buckshot across mine. A second explosion had the Dark Claw's head flying into a tree. Looking to my left, I saw smoke roiling from the barrel of Little Macintosh. Little Pip had blown the things head off with one bullet. _"Guess Applejack knew what she was doing when she designed this tool." _I thought to myself as I spun and smacked my shotgun barrel into the face of another Dark Claw. Melody's pistols rang out with twelve rounds, peppering the Dark Claw below her with incendiary rounds while she stayed safely in the air. Granted, with my strength, I probably could have easily lifted Little Pip and still whipped around my Shotgun, but we were safer on the ground where she wasn't trying to choke the life out of me while I shot. Growling as my Shotgun ran out of ammo, I flipped it around, gripping the barrel and swinging it around like a club, to great affect as another Dark Claw dropped like a rock from not just my blow to its head but a shot from Calamity's rifle. The genius that started the whole mess was keeping well out of reach.

"When he lands, remind me to kill him." Pip said and I smirked, whacking a Dark Claw that tried to sneak up behind her in the head with my revised club.

"Get in line." I chuckled and she smiled and ducked as another shot rang out from the direction of Megaton. The snipers in the towers had taken notice of the ruckus. Grabbing Pip's wrist, I motioned for Melody to head to Megaton. Calamity had already taken off in the direction of the Megaton's towers, and as soon as Melody was out of danger, I yanked pip close, wrapped my wings around the two of us, and slammed my gauntlet clad palm into the ground. The area around us seemed to slow down or freeze, even the tumble weeds and dust devils caught in the burst of my spell seeming to have been frozen in place. Pulling my wings open, I picked up a frozen Little Pip and raced for Megaton. As soon as we were out of the range of my spell, Pip went from being a solid stick of a pony to a limp, wriggling pony that wanted to walk on her own. I didn't obey her wish until we were safely inside the walls of Megaton, and only then did I set Pip down. Calamity and Melody were already inside, Melody harping at him for starting that fight and Calamity just grinning like an idiot. He'd had a blast. I growled a little and started towards him but Pip beat me to it and started whacking him on the head. I smirked at some of the words flying out of her mouth and only stopped her when the Sheriff of Megaton was within sight.

"Howdy strangers. Name's Iron-sights. Mayor, Sheriff, an' Judge of good ole' Megaton. Anything we can do fer ya?" He asked and I nodded and started to speak but Melody beat me to that as well, pulling out a picture of myself, her, and our two sisters and flying to questions about whether he'd seen either of them. When he finally got her to stop asking questions long enough to say one of them was staying in the local inn, it was finally Pip's turn to ask if he'd seen one of her friends. I was too distracted by the news that Melody and I might find one of our sisters in this town to hear if Iron-sights had seen Pip's friend, but Melody had already raced off to the inn. Turning to Calamity I told him to meet us at the inn later that night and we'd resume the search for Pip's friend first thing in the morning. He nodded and I took off after my sister, my coat billowing behind me, my wings outstretched and lifting me into the air, straight towards the front door of the inn. As soon as I landed, Melody was inside and from the shriek of joy she let out, I knew Iron-sights hadn't lied to us. Running into the inn, I stopped dead in my tracks. Sitting at a table not two feet from the stage was my big sister. Nyx, the Alicorn Princess of the Night. A smile spread across her face as she saw me and I walked towards her slowly. Everyone in the crowd was smiling and clapping at the tearful reunion, but one person saw the look on my face. I wasn't happy. I was furious. And I made that clear as soon as I reached her by yanking her from Melody's arms and shoving her up against the wall.

"You left us... for thirty years... alone in that castle while the bombs destroyed our home around us... you abandoned us... after promising mom you'd take care of us... how _dare _you leave us! Your own family! After mom died, you were the closest thing Melody and Radiance had to a mother, and you abandoned them!" I shouted and she hung her head.

"Yes... I left... I hoped to find a way to fix what the conflict had done... when I returned, I was so ashamed I couldn't bare to show my face to you or Melody... Or Radiance... and I'm so sorry for not telling you sooner, Artemis..." She said and I broke down into tears, Nyx pulling me to her and hugging me tight. The crowd oohed and awwed, but that only lasted for a second before the stranger that had seen my outburst spoke up.

"Pretty brave, boy... approaching one of the only remaining Alicorns in existance so brazenly." Turning to look at him, I froze. He was as tall and wide across as I was, but the armor he was wearing was nearly identical to the armor my father owned. This man, whoever he was, was the Wolf Warrior, sitting here in little ole Megaton, smoking a cigar. The cigar was the first thing that told me he wasn't my father. The second thing was his face. He wasn't familiar to me. He wasn't a wolf, a pegasus, or a unicorn, nor was he an earth pony. For all I could tell, this Wolf Warrior was a zombie. Or a zombie of a Chimera because he seemed to have horns sticking from the top of his wolf head, which part of his mouth was missing, having rotted away. His eyes were a shade of crimson that only my father would have had, if he'd become Shadow Heart. That left two possibilities. Either this... thing... was Shadow Heart turned into a true monster... or it was a Draconequis with a more lupine feature to its face. Melody moved over close to us and Nyx tried to move herself between the Warrior and myself but I stepped up to him and got right in his ugly face, nearly gagging on his stench and the stench of his cigar.

"I don't know who you are old man, but that armor your wearing very well may belong to my family. I demand that you remove it at once. On the Authority of the King of the Shadow Wolf Clan." I said and he threw his head back and laughed. It was common knowledge that one of the first places hit was the central hub of power for the Shadow Wolf Clan, killing everyone. The only ones spared that explosion were myself and my father, and as far as I knew, our old friend Luna Nightwind who passed on two years later. As far as everyone in Equestria knew, my father was killed when the Pink Cloud was released on Canterlot, which left me as the only remaining Shadow Clan Wolf.

"The Shadow Wolf Clan is gone, boy. You may be the last of them, but without a viable female to breed with, your clan will die out with you." He took a large drag from his cigar before leaning forward and blowing the smoke in my face, causing my eyes to water and my lungs to freeze up, forcing me to cough. "And from what I can smell, the only viable females with sufficient wolf blood is that one right there behind you. Your dear little sister." He said and I growled and was about to pounce on him when Nyx, out of seemingly no where, produced one of our father's swords and pressed the blade to the Warrior's throat.

"I suggest you step away from my brother and leave Megaton, Wolf Warrior. Your services will no longer be required. I am here and reunited with my family." She said and he huffed and backed away, walking over to the table he was sitting at and putting the helmet on. That's when I knew the armor he was wearing was a fake. My father's armor had a full helm, this Warrior, this fraud, had a half helm with only a visor and the neck and head guards. The half helm was clearly so he could continue to smoke his cigars.

"Brave boy. Be wary the next time we cross paths." He said before striding out of the inn. As he left, Little Pip and Calamity walked in and looked around. When Pip spotted us, she pointed us out to Calamity and they walked over to us.

"Nyx, meet Little Pip and Calamity. They're our newest companions and possibly the bravest ponies we know." Melody said and Nyx smiled.

"Yeah... brave when one of them isn't being stupid..." I said under my breath as I plopped into the nearest empty chair. The patrons sitting at the table quickly got up and walked to a different table. Nyx chuckled and sat down next to me with Melody on her other side. Pip and Calamity sat across from us and I turned to them. "So, what's the plan. What news on your friend Pip?"

"Well, it's good and it's bad... see, I found out while I was talking to Iron-sights, that this town houses a roving bandit group on a regular basis. The good news is, they aren't here now. The bad news is... Velvet's with them..." She said and I winced just a little. What I heard was that they were on their way back and Velvet was either held captive or was with them willingly, which very nearly made her a bandit in my book.

"Well, she can't be with them willingly, nopony would willingly work with bandits or raiders. And I've met these guys' leader. He's a slaver, he sells ponies, or whoever he can get his hands on, for a profit. Unless she's got a special skill that would make him keep her, she's probably been sold to the highest bidder." Melody said and I looked at her. I remembered a band of bandits coming through New Appleoosa once when I was under the weather, but to hear that their leader had spoken to my sister... made me want to tear out his throat with my bare hands.

"Velvet Remedy? She's your friend? That means _you're _the Little Pip that allowed her to get here by taking off that pip buck." Nyx said and Little Pip looked at her. "Yeah, I know her. She sings here from time to time. The bandits are going to be here tomorrow and she'll be with them. She travels with them willingly but only as a medic. If they get sick, she tries to make them better as best she can." Pip frowned at that. She'd fought bandits that were trying to kill her the moment she walked out of her Stable. I understood her hesitance to want to believe that her friend was willingly helping bandits.

"So we have a game plan. When they arrive, we slaughter the bandits and rescue Pip's friend." I said and the four of them turned and stared at me.

"Artemis... we might not need to out right slaughter them. Maybe we can just get them to release her." Melody said and I looked at her. She had a gentle heart, but even she knew that letting bandits live meant they'd kidnap someone else, and I wasn't about to let that happen. My every intention was to end bandits and raiders for good. To put Equestria back to the way it was before the war, before the bombs, and before everything went horribly wrong. She could see in my eyes that I had no intention of letting the bandits leave this town, one way or another.

"We have to get Velvet away from them first." Pip said and everyone else at the table nodded.

The next day I woke up, surprisingly comfortable, to a racket downstairs. The inn was packed with guests who'd been traveling all night, some were raiders, some were just survivors looking for a place to stay over night. Our sleeping arrangements were strange, but made sense. Melody and Pip bunked together, Calamity took the floor and I got the other bed. That was determined by Calamity not wanting to end up waking up in an awkward position. As for Nyx, she'd went to her own room after getting our rooms set up for the night. Getting up, he stepped carefully over Calamity as he walked out of the room and looked over the balcony. The bandits had arrived late last night, and standing on stage was possibly the most beautiful mare I'd ever seen. Her hair was pure white with red and golden highlights and her skin was a perfect shade of tan. The moment she stepped up to the microphone, I was sure I was gonna fall in love. Her voice was like an angel. As she sang, he listened for only a couple hours before going back into his room and shaking Pip and Melody awake. "Girls, they're here. Velvet and the bandits that have her." He said as he pulled on his shirt. The minute Pip heard Velvet, she was out of bed pulling on her shirt. It was all I could do to chase her out onto the balcony and keep her from running downstairs to her friend.

"Let go of me Artemis!" Pip shouted but I held onto her arms and when one of them looked up I turned my back and pulled Pip against me, pretending we were just a couple who'd just woken up and came to hear the music.

"Pip, think, if you go down there right now they'll kill you. We need to plan. Devise a strategy. Plan. We'll get her out of here safely and un-noticed... and I hate to say it... but when we're gone, I'm sending this entire city to hell." I said and she looked up at me, fear evident in her eyes.

"You can't... Artemis, you can't just... kill all of these people... They're all innocent, Artemis..." She said and I shook my head only slightly. "I won't let you kill them Artemis. There has to be another way." She said and I sighed. There was another way, but I wasn't sure I wanted to share it with her. I could use my gauntlet to transport the bandits to a completely different realm, but it was slightly risky. He stretched just a little before taking her arm and leading her downstairs. They took a table directly in the middle of the stage and she looked up at her friend. As they listened, Nyx, Melody and Calamity soon joined them, Calamity keeping one hand on one of the triggers for his guns. Nyx watched Velvet sing, but even Artemis noticed that Velvet's eyes were locked on Pip. As soon as her set was done, Velvet walked off stage and out the back behind the curtains. As soon as Velvet was out of sight, Pip and I stood up, me gesturing two Nyx and Melody to keep Calamity seated and ready. I grabbed Pip's arm and led her around back stage, straight to Velvet.

"Miss Velvet Remedy." I said as we walked up to her. She turned and looked at me and her eyes stopped on Pip.

"Oh Velvet!" Pip shouted before she ran to her friend and hugged her tight. The look on Velvet's face, however, made me think that maybe, just maybe, she didn't want to be found.

* * *

><p><strong>And there's the chapter. They were reunited with both Nyx and Velvet. Next chapter, well... I suppose we'll be getting Velvet away from the bandits as well as moving on farther. Um... yeah. Enjoy.<strong>


End file.
